'Two million people could die' but Chinese premier Xi is refusing to use western vaccines

Xi Jinping is refusing to use western vaccines despite warnings that up to two million people could die in China if he ditches the country's hardline zero-Covid policy. The Chinese president is "unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West, and is instead relying on a vaccine in China that's just not nearly as effective against Omicron", said Avril Haines, the US director of National Intelligence. The country is at particular risk because it has relatively low vaccination rates among the elderly, and a lack of herd immunity. Ms Haines told a defence forum in California this weekend that…